Is Peter Dutton a strong enough leader to stand behind Sussan Ley in opposition reshuffle? | Samantha Maiden
Peter Dutton says he’s a strong leader but we’re about to find out if he’s strong enough to stop history repeated for his female deputy, writes Samantha Maiden.
Opinion
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Deputy leader Sussan Ley has told Peter Dutton directly she wants the foreign affairs portfolio.
In theory, the convention dictates that means the jobs is hers. Given she is the deputy leader, she gets to choose her portfolio.
But will she? Or will Peter Dutton turn convention on its head?
Perhaps, this little quandary helps explains why Peter Dutton has delayed and delayed the reshuffle that everyone expected would be announced before Christmas.
The official reason for the hold up is that the Victorian Liberal Party imploded with a change in leadership before Christmas.
The whispered reason is all the other blokes jostling for the job that in theory Sussan Ley now owns.
What a dilemma for Peter Dutton if he decides to overlook his female deputy, denying her the prerogative afforded to deputies for decades.
The Albanese Government will have a field day with that one, despite some standout (male) alternatives.
The other blokes in the runnng for the job include Senator James Paterson who is well-regarded and could take the fight directly to Penny Wong in the Senate.
She is regarded as vulnerable over her handling of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
There’s also Victorian Dan Tehan who is facing a challenge in his seat and isn’t always the most confident media performer.
There’s also Julian Leeser who is widely respected and perhaps the last moderate standing but it’s not clear he would have the political muscle to leapfrog over Ley.
Dave Sharma is another possibility who could take Senator Wong over rising anti-semitism.
Briefly, Victorian Jane Hume entered the fray but she seems to be a late scratching. ‘
Interestingly, the last time a female deputy demanded a key portfolio in opposition it was Julie Bishop, who wanted treasury.
That didn’t end well, not that this history should be a barrier to Sussan Ley getting the gig.
Julie Bishop later claimed she was white-anted.
She came under relentless pressure internally from a group of blokes who rather weirdly called themselves the big swinging d*cks.
They thought that Joe Hockey would do a better job and so it passed that eventually Julie Bishop was forced to hand the job over and take foreign affairs, a job she proved very effective in.
Joe Hockey took on the job and promptly experimented with $5 co-payments for GP visits and the deficit levy and all sorts.
It’s not clear that worked out terribly well either although nobody blamed it on big Joe being a man.
Reports of the “swinging d*cks” were first revealed by former Sunday Telegraph journalist Glenn Milne in 2009.
“It was actually big swinging d*cks,’’ Ms Bishop later told Leigh Sales on 7:30.
“No-one self-identified to me. My ambition was to be the foreign minister of Australia, and I served in that role for five years. And likewise I was deputy leader of the party for 11 years.
“If their ambition was to thwart my aspirations, then they failed.”
And that’s right.
The allegedly big swinging etcetera turned out to be kind of puny.
A long list of current and former ministers were included as part of the anti-Julie Bishop club over a decade ago.
But two purported members of the “big swinging d*cks” later claimed there was no secret club and the claims they were big or indeed swinging was all an in joke.
All this is the perfect segue way to Peter Dutton’s decision to turn to US podcaster Joe Rogan for inspo in his recent speech.
His call to arms that “weak leaders create hard times” appears to have been inspired by US broadcaster Joe Rogan’s famous podcast that says “soft men create hard times”.
In a clip from his podcast, commentator Joe Rogan blasts “soft men” who he says create “hard times”.
“Weak leaders create hard times, but strong leaders create better times,” Mr Dutton said on Sunday.
Mr Dutton did not attribute the famous quote anywhere in his speech to the podcaster or the author G Michael Hopf who wrote it first in his post-apocalyptic novel Those Who Remain, but it’s arguably been flying around since Ancient Greece.
And so now Mr Dutton faces a dilemma.
Is it weak to give in to Sussan Ley’s demands ?
Or stupid not to grant her wish because the ALP will accuse him have having one rule for blokes and another female deputy leaders?
Stay tuned for Peter Dutton’s answer.
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